AEL deal Apollon severe blow after Limassol derby win

AEL beat Apollon 2-1 in the Limassol derby on Monday night to leapfrog their city rivals into second place in the table.

Apollon could have replaced Omonia at the top with a win of their own, but instead saw their title chances take a major hit, as they dropped to third. It’s still extremely tight, with the top three separated by only two points.

The first major moment of the game would foreshadow what would come next, as Anthony Georgiou forced Apollon centre-back Valentin Roberge into a mistake, allowing Georgiou to go through one-on-one with Demetriou, with the goalkeeper managing to prevent an early goal against his team.

One of the first half’s many mistakes was the root cause for the first goal of the game. Demetriou’s poor clearance sent the ball straight into AEL winger Manuel Torres’ feet on the right-hand side. Torres’ shot was blocked by Demetriou but Georgiou scored the close-range rebound in the 36th minute.

The second half started where the first one ended. A lot of personal battles, AEL pressing aggressively as soon as Apollon crossed the midfield line, and Apollon not being able to find any fluidity in their build-up play or in the final third.

AEL first threatened to double their lead in the 65th minute when Ryann Mmaee scored from an offside position, with VAR correctly adjudicating the goal as invalid.

Apollon continued committing bodies forward, particularly after manager Giannis Petrakis brought on forwards Bagaliy Dabo and Charlison Benschop in an effort to find an equaliser.

AEL took advantage of the space Apollon vacated in their own half to score a second goal in the 75th minute, when Richard Danilo went past Joao Pedro to set up Torres for an easy finish inside the penalty area.

AEL had a player sent off though in the 91st minute after Danilo upended Nicolas Diguiny with a harsh challenge.

Referee Timotheos Christofi, who had a clear view of the incident, needed VAR’s assistance to confirm the red card.

Apollon pulled one back in the 93rd minute when Diguiny scored from a Diego Biseswar set-piece, but it was too little, too late.